INHFA takes issue with Heydon over GAEC 2 rules

The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has accused the Department of Agriculture of “manipulating” the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 2 classification process.

The hill farmer body described as “catastrophic” the imposition of GAEC 2 rules on over 100,000ha of mineral soils.

It also claimed the classification process was skewed in order to “protect the interests of intensive agriculture and forestry at the expense of 35,000 farmers along the western seaboard”.

“Your Department decided that GAEC 2 parcels had to encompass entire LPIS parcels, suggesting this was the only viable approach.

“This is categorically untrue,” the INHFA claimed in a letter to the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.

The hill farmer body maintained that the Department’s approach to GAEC 2 classifications – where a LPIS parcel is excluded from GAEC 2 if less than 50% consists of peatland, while a parcel is included if less than 50% consists of mineral soils – discriminates against farmers working hill and marginal land which invariably includes more ground with a mix of peat and mineral soils.

The INHFA claimed the Department’s “flawed methodology” resulted “in over 200,000ha of peatlands conveniently escaping GAEC 2 obligations”, while including 100,000ha of “wrongly classified” good land.

The rules governing GAEC 2 lands mean that farmers will not be able to open new drains or deepen existing drains without planning permission, and will be restricted to reseeding ground one year in four.

Unnecessary

However, the INHFA maintained that the GAEC 2 restrictions, which apply to around 550,000ha of farmland, go well beyond drainage and reseeding.

“This classification imposes unnecessary planning restrictions on these lands, effectively halting development and limiting agricultural activities, such as agro-forestry, native woodland establishment and specific actions under ACRES involving hedgerow establishment and native tree planting. It will also impact on fertiliser use and type, which will reduce output,” the INHFA claimed.

At the AGM of Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) recently, Minister Heydon insisted that new GAEC 2 rules were a legal requirement but would have little impact on the farming of classified lands.